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When this movie came out in 2016 it was the final film directed by a woman who was going to receive a wide release. It opened opposite Fantastic Beasts, and as you can imagine it did not do all that well. It didn’t do poorly – grossing $18mil on a $9mil budget is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s also not great for a movie that opened in over 2000 theaters. It was originally scheduled for a September release, but was moved to November (possibly to help its awards chances), which I think hurt its chance to become a sleeper hit (we have so few of those these days). I had a twitter chain about the film go viral, which led to me guesting on the Filmspotting podcast, where I talked about the film, as well as my ever-growing list of films about teenager girls directed by women. (There’s a larger conversation to be had about how the conversation around Ladybird was all on how few films about teenage girls are about women when a) this film had literally been released a year earlier and b) my list is over 200 films as of writing this). I was a big fan of Hailee Steinfeld from her turn in True Grit, so I was really excited that she was finally going to get a big launch film (if only it had pushed her into the stratosphere like Easy A did for Emma Stone!)

Many of the stars on last year’s list continued to dominate cinema in 2010; and just like last year a few of the stars on this year’s list have been working for quite some time, but in 2010 they’re finally getting their due.

Andrew Garfield made his debut in 2007 in the not-well received Lions For Lambs and the under-seen Boy A. Last year he was fabulous in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, sadly that too went a little under the radar. This year, however, Garfield had two stand-out performances: as Tommy in the much-debated adaptation of Never Let Me Go and as Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher Best Picture contender The Social Network. Garfield has received multiple nominations for his performance in the latter and is widely considered a front-runner for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination next week. He’s also been named the new Spiderman, which has begun filming already and is due out in theaters in 2012.

There’s been a lot of chatter as of late on Twitter about 14 year-old Hailee Steinfeld’s chances at an Oscar nomination and whether her performance should be considered for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress. The debate seems to be whether the role is a lead role or a supporting role. While I think it is a lead role, what is really in question is where she has the best chance of getting a nomination – and even perhaps winning. That’s how studios decide how to campaign a role. Though Steinfeld is the heart of True Grit, she has the best chance in the Best Supporting Actress category.

I’ve added a few more winners to the precursors chart. The Social Network, Fincher and Sorkin still lead their categories. Colin Firth leads Best Actor, Natalie Portman leads Best Actress and Christian Bale leads Best Supporting Actor.

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What has recently become interesting is the Best Supporting Actress category. At first Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom seemed to be primed for the award, with a win at the National Board of Review and a Golden Globe nomination. But she failed to receive a SAG nomination and that could hurt her chances. Melissa Leo in The Fighter has been picking up steam, with five critic awards wins, a Golden Globe and SAG nomination. Recently joining the race and picking up major momentum is Hailee Steinfeld from True Grit. Although she didn’t receive a Golden Globe nomination, she also have five critic award wins and a SAG nomination. With all the other acting fields relatively predictable (as well as most of the tech categories), Supporting Actress seems to be the most interesting race of the year.